Against Heresies: Book IV
Chapter 31: We shouldn't quickly judge as sins, the actions of ancient people that the Scripture has not condemned, but should instead search for the symbolic representation of future events in them: this is exemplified in the incest acted upon by Lot
In recounting certain matters of this kind regarding those of old times, the presbyter previously mentioned would instruct us and say: "Regarding the misdeeds for which the Scriptures themselves blame the patriarchs and prophets, we should not criticize them or become like Ham, who mocked his father's shame and thus fell under a curse; instead, we should give thanks to God on their behalf, since their sins have been forgiven through the advent of our Lord. For He said that they gave thanks for us and gloried in our salvation. Regarding those actions on which the Scriptures do not pass judgment, but merely report as having happened, we should not become accusers of those who committed them, for we are not more exact than God, nor can we be superior to our Master; instead, we should search for a meaning in them. For nothing recorded in Scripture without condemnation is meaningless."
An example is found in the case of Lot, who led his daughters out of Sodom, and they then conceived by their own father; who left his wife behind within the land, who remains a pillar of salt to this day. Lot, not acting on his own will or due to carnal desire, nor having any knowledge or thought of such things, indeed fulfilled a symbolic meaning. As Scripture says: "And that night the elder went in and lay with her father; and Lot did not know when she lay down or when she got up." The same happened with the younger: "And he did not know," it is said, "when she lay with him, nor when she got up." Since Lot did not know what he did, nor was a slave to lust in his actions, the arrangement designed by God was carried out, whereby the two daughters (that is, the two churches) who gave birth to children from the same father, were highlighted, without the influence of the lust of the flesh. For there was no other person, as they assumed, who could provide them with the necessary seed to have children, as it is written: "And the elder said to the younger, there is not a man on the earth to come into us after the manner of all the earth: come, let us make our father drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, and raise up seed from our father."
Thus, after their simplicity and innocence, did these daughters [of Lot] speak, imagining that all humankind had perished, just like the Sodomites had, and that the anger of God had come upon the whole earth.
Therefore, they are to be held excusable, since they thought that only they, along with their father, were left for the preservation of the human race; and for this reason, they deceived their father.
Furthermore, the words they used pointed out this fact—that there is no other who can grant the elder and younger church the [power of] giving birth to children, besides our Father.
Now the father of the human race is the Word of God, as Moses points out when he says, “Is He not your father who obtained you [by generation], and formed you, and created you?” When, then, did He pour out upon the human race the life-giving seed—that is, the Spirit of the remission of sins, through whom we are quickened? Was it not when He was eating with men, and drinking wine on the earth? For it is said, “The Son of man came eating and drinking;” and when He lay down, He fell asleep, and took repose.
As He Himself says in David, “I slept, and took repose.” And because He acted thus while He lived among us, He says again, “And my sleep became sweet to me.” Now this whole matter was indicated through Lot, that the seed of the Father of all—that is, the Spirit of God, by whom all things were made—was mingled and united with flesh—that is, with His own creation; by which mingling and unity, the two synagogues—that is, the two churches—produced from their own father living sons to the living God.
And while these things were happening, his wife stayed in the territory of Sodom, no longer a corruptible human but a pillar of salt that lasts forever. This symbolizes that the Church, which is the salt of the earth, remains within the limits of the earth and is subject to human suffering. Even when entire members are often taken away from it, the pillar of salt persists, representing the foundation of faith that strengthens and guides children to their Father.